Lampard reflects on first-half positives and highlights where his Chelsea side can improve

Frank Lampard claimed the opening 25 minutes of his first home game as Chelsea head coach demonstrated exactly what he wants from his Blues side, though he admitted a dip in quality on the ball played a big part in the contest turning against us.

The Blues picked up our first point of the Premier League campaign but lost a foothold in the final hour having started so brightly. Mason Mount’s early opener, his first goal for the club on his home debut, put us on track but Leicester were able to gradually settle and equalised in the second half through Wilfred Ndidi.

Speaking in his post-match press conference after the game, Lampard said we played into the hands of the Foxes at times after failing to capitalise on a fast start at Stamford Bridge.

‘The first 25 minutes was how we want to play but the rest of the game wasn’t quite how we want to play,’ he reflected.

‘Credit to Leicester for that, they put us under pressure and we weren’t good enough in possession after the first period. We gifted them possession back and gave them the feeling they were still in the game because we didn’t score that second goal.

‘In the second half, we left far too many spaces for them. They’re a very good team on the counter-attack, they have good attacking players who can really hurt you and that was the disappointing thing for me, the fact we couldn’t sustain the period in the early part of the game.

‘I don’t expect that 100-miles-an-hour energy for 90 minutes but I do expect that we keep possession of the ball better when we rest.’

Lampard also discussed his return to the Bridge as boss.

‘It felt great. It was obviously a big, special moment for me to come back to the club and manage the club at Stamford Bridge. It’s the stuff of dreams and I certainly appreciate it but I’m here to do a job and we know we can do better than we did today.’

On Mount, Frank felt his goal showcased everything that makes him such a special talent.

‘The epitome of his talent was shown in his goal – great energy off the ball to close people down and then the quality to finish it. He could have scored two more goals in that opening period actually but we know he’s going to get better and better.

'That was the first of some big moments for Mason and I’m delighted for him on that level but I know he’ll have wanted that to be part of a win.’

Finally, Lampard was asked whether tiredness had played a part in us losing control of the contest.

‘I hate the tiredness excuse but I think it was a factor in the second half of the game. We’re good enough that if that is a factor we can take it out by being better on the ball, we turned it over too many times, we allowed them counter-attacks which means you run a lot.

‘The performance against Manchester United overall made me happier than today’s, even though it was a 4-0 defeat. It’s clearly a results business and we need results as well as performances but I believe we have both in us because we have good quality.

‘We need better game management. When the game turns slightly against us then we need to be good enough to wrestle that back and move the ball better so that’s something for us to keep working on.’